According to the statistics office, the number of foreign arrivals in December accelerated at a higher rate compared to domestic tourist nights, which it attributed to low figures in the base period due to the possible effects of the then ongoing refugee crisis.

The number of international tourist arrivals grew by 18%, while the number of nights spent by international tourists in the country rose by 21%, according to the KSH. The change in international tourist arrivals appeared mostly at hotels in the capital, where nine out of ten guests are foreigners, the KSH added. 

The 22% growth in turnover at Budapest hotels, accounting for seven tenths of total international guest turnover, was mainly behind the considerable increase in December, although the number of international tourism nights rose more or less in almost every tourism region, the KSH noted.

Concerning source countries, the highest number of tourism nights was spent by guests arriving from the United Kingdom and Italy. In the case of these countries, the number of tourism nights grew by 20% and 17%, respectively.

The number of domestic guests in December grew by 5.9%, and that of tourism nights spent by them by 8.6%. The turnover measured on the basis of domestic tourism nights increased in almost all tourism regions, to the greatest degree in Central Transdanubia (by 21%) and the Budapest and Central Danube Region (by 17%).

Room occupancy in hotels increased by 4.9 percentage points to 49.4%. The total gross revenue of accommodation establishments in December increased by 17% to HUF 31 billion, within which accommodation fee revenues grew by 21% to HUF 17 bln, catering revenues by 9.8% to HUF 7.4 bln, and other revenues by 14% to HUF 6.5 bln, according to the KSH.

As far as the whole year 2016 is concerned, accommodation establishments recorded 27.7 million tourism nights, 7.0% more than in 2015, with total gross revenues of accommodation establishments rising by 9.1% at current prices and amounting to more than HUF 402 bln.

In the January-December period, foreign guests spent 6.9% more and domestic guests 7.1% more (13.8 million) tourism nights in accommodation establishments, as compared to the previous year.

Room occupancy in hotels in 2016 rose by an average of 2.5 percentage points to 56.4%.